I’ve already described at length my love for mushrooms, as well as my love for eating stuff I find near my house. Combined, these two loves of mine have birthed this summer’s obsession: chanterelle foraging. It’s fun, easy and tasty- and besides the two ticks I’ve accumulated wading in waist-deep grasses, I have yet to find a downside.

We all know that there’s some crazy stuff that you can only find in Japan. When I made my first trip there earlier this summer, I experienced several ‘firsts’- first time getting served cocktails by a dude wearing a French maid outfit; first time eating something that was still moving around on my plate; first time in a CAT CAFE.

I’d heard that there’s wild blueberries here in the Alps towards the end of the summer, so when I stumbled upon some blueberry-looking bushes in the forest, I was excited to think that soon I could stop spending half of my salary on berries from the supermarket.

Last weekend I hosted a couch surfer from Hong Kong named Jody. She was everything I’d hoped for in a couch surfer; she was friendly, open-minded, curious, and she loved talking about food. She also brought some Hong Kong-style powdered milk tea, which we sipped on while discussing everything from sachertorte to uralic linguistics to the Ryugyong Hotel. It was great.